Ben and Tom Birchall took a record breaking Sure Formula Two Sidecar race win on Monday afternoon at the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races with the Mansfield brothers taking their fifth TT victory and setting a new outright lap record of 117.119mph.

Their eventual winning margin over John Holden/Lee Cain was 25.6s with Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle holding onto third as the weather closed in on the final lap. It was the Manxman’s 30th podium in his 50th TT start.

The Birchalls made their intentions clear from the outset and opened up a 3.4s lead over Holden/Cain through Glen Helen on the opening lap with Molyneux/Sayle a further second behind in third. The Founds brothers, Alan and Pete, with Jake Lowther and Jevan Walmsley in the respective chairs, were occupying fourth and fifth as Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes held sixth.

“Team Shand Racing” set off to the 2017 Isle of Man TT races on Wednesday 24th May.

With one week on the island not a lot of laps have been done due to bad weather. Although the weather was hot and sunny for three days running up to the first full weekend on the island, no practice had been scheduled.

With this long wait, it was an opportune time to get some good preparation done to the “Shand Chassis” Honda.Driver Gordon, managed to get a lot of engine work done in the mobile workshop in the back of the team truck, he was really happy with the progress he managed to get done to some engines. Passenger Phil started making adjustments to the fairing and some small changes to the ever important handholds he uses. Mechanic Douglas “The Professor” started checking over the chassis, making some adjustments; he also did a lot of work to the front brakes, and fabricated a new oil catchment tray. While this was all going on the team were well fed and watered by the “Boss” Sandra.

With Greg only acquiring the outfit and deciding to compete just a few weeks before the event, also missing first practise due to a lanyard fault, there were big smiles in the team as they qualified 4th fastest having only 4 laps on the bike together.

This turned a few heads in the paddock, having such little bike time and bearing in mind that Julie hadn't even sat on a classic outfit before!

With many thanks to Mark Walters, and also the Isle of Man weather giving us a bit of a break in proceedings to catch up, we bring you Mark's full report of qualifying and both races at the second round of the FIM Superside World Championship at Oschersleben a short while back.

We have the times from Tuesday, the only session run so far.click read more.

Tonight's session (Wednesday) was going to be just round as far as Ramsey and then controlled speed back to the Grandstand just to get the teams some laps in and give them a chance to check set up due to adverse weather on the Mountain. The airmed can't fly at all now so even that has been called off.

We are advising passengers to carry identification and check in early for sailings in response to enhanced security measures at UK ports.The UK terror threat level was yesterday raised to ‘critical’, the highest level, following the Manchester Arena attack on Monday. As a result, some police services are requiring additional security checks at ports, including compulsory identification checks for all passengers and more vehicle searches.These measures were introduced at Heysham on Wednesday afternoon.

Sidecar entries are needed in the next few days to ensure the class is run at the "Cock O'The North" Road Races at Oliver's Mount on June 24th & 25th.

Entries officially close on Friday 26th May - however, by this time, many competitors will be at the TT. If insufficient sidecar entries are received by the closing date, the class will unfortunately be shelved. Presently, all solo classes are looking well subscribed, so there will be additional solo races to take the allocated time if entries are not forthcoming.

The third round of the A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British Formula 2 Sidecar championship took place this past weekend at Donington Park, hosted by the North Gloucester Road Racing Club. With a changeable weather forecast everyone was hoping for a dry session and when qualifying took place half way through the day on Saturday the weather remained a little blustery, the track was dry and the overhead conditions cloudy.

Mallory are still prepared to run test sessions for sidecars Thursday 18th on the proviso that 12 attend.

This is the last chance of useful testing for a few teams before heading across to the Island for the TT, so I've been asked that anyone who has been planning on going please register your interest with Mallory Park Circuit as soon as possible.

There will be 5-6 sessions during the course of the full day at a cost of £140, please contact the circuit on 01455502214 if you are wanting to go.

“Sidecars head to Germany”

Round two of the FIM Sidecar World Championship will take place at the 3.667km circuit of Oschersleben, the circuit which is situated in the Borde district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

Opened in 1997 as “Motopark Oschersleben” it was then the third permanent racetrack in Germany, the other two being “Nurburgring” and “Hochenheimring”.

This meeting is earlier in the year than previous years, and again the World Sidecars will be supporting the World Endurance Championship for solo machines.There will be lots of track time for the sidecar teams, and with two races over the weekend a lot of championship points can be had.